About an hour before his start against the Winnipeg Goldeyes, pitcher Mark Hamburger of Shoreview focuses with electronica music by Pretty Lights in the St. Paul Saints dugout at Midway Stadium in St. Paul on Wednesday June 19, 2013. A former major leager who struggled with substance abuse and was kicked out of baseball after his second failed drug test, Hamburger is trying to revive his career with the Saints. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

Mark Hamburger pitches in his sixth start for the St. Paul Saints against the Winnipeg Goldeyes at Midway Stadium on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Hamburger, who signed a minor-league deal with the Twins in September, suffered a strained triceps in his right (throwing) arm and left the Aragua (Venezuela) Tigers after just four outings, all in relief. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

Too much Pepsi might have caused Mark Hamburger’s winter-ball season in Venezuela to end rather quickly.

The former St. Paul Saints ace, who signed a minor league deal with the Twins in September, suffered a strained triceps in his right (throwing) arm and left the Aragua Tigers after just four outings, all in relief.

Hamburger, 26, returned home to the Twin Cities and underwent a full battery of tests with his kinesiologist.

“He tested my arm out and found my lat was weak,” Hamburger said Wednesday in a phone interview. “He tested my whole body and found I had too much sugar in my pancreas, and that was making my lat weak and creating the whole intense soreness for the arm.”

Normally a light drinker of Coca-Cola, Hamburger said he started pounding Pepsi before, during and after games in Venezuela. In part that was because of the unexpected bullpen role after signing with the understanding he would be starting.

In fact, Hamburger said he turned down opportunities to pitch this winter in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico specifically because of that agreement with Aragua.

“It was kind of a bitter thing to come into,” he said. “That was the only reason I signed there. I’d pitched in Puerto Rico before (2010), but Venezuela is a different beast.”

There are no plans to send him back to the Venezuelan Winter League this season, said Brad Steil, the Twins’ director of minor league operations. Hamburger intends to spend this winter at his parents’ Shoreview home in preparation for spring training.

Suspended for the first 50 games of 2014 after violating baseball’s minor-league policy on substance abuse, Hamburger finished with a 4.91 earned-run average at Aragua.

He plans to begin throwing in December as usual, but first he will have to get through Halloween.

“We got rid of the Coca-Cola at my house,” Hamburger said. “I told my dad maybe I’ll have a couple of candy bars on Halloween, but that’s it. Basically, I’m a candidate for being diabetic.”

Hamburger opened his Aragua stint with six shutout innings — three separate two-inning appearances — but recorded just four outs while giving up four runs on four hits in a relief outing on Oct. 20 at Magallanes.

The 7 1/3 innings he threw in Venezuela were piled atop the career-high 149 innings he pitched in 21 starts for the independent-league Saints this season. Hamburger, who had a 3.26 earned-run average this season, had a previous career high of 90 1/3 innings with the Texas Rangers in 2011.

The Mounds View High School graduate threw just 78 1/3 innings in 2012, making 43 appearances (four starts) in the Houston, Texas and San Diego farm systems. That means he doubled his workload this season, but Hamburger said he felt strong all year, even after throwing 142 pitches in one complete game with the Saints.

Briefly

— Twins outfielder Oswaldo Arcia made his 2013 debut for Aragua in his native Venezuela. Serving as the designated hitter, he went 0 for 3 with a strikeout Tuesday.

— In the Dominican Republic, Double-A third baseman Miguel Sano (strained right elbow) has been removed from the Estrellas roster and remains day to day.

— Trevor May, pitching for the first time in 11 days because of biceps tendinitis, tossed one scoreless inning Wednesday for Glendale in the Arizona Fall League.

— Double-A right-hander Trevor May, out since Oct. 19 with biceps tendinitis, is scheduled to return to the mound soon in the Arizona Fall League.

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